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[Sheb]

I think there will be some equivalent to our Jump Drive for inter-system transit. Having to wait years for any transit would sucks.

[Paul]

I'm playing the latest version (5.52).

Tractor beams are fun.

My new long range exploration vessel:

Spoiler: Engine Section (click to show/hide)

Explorer - Engine Section class Gravitational Survey Vessel    10,000 tons     344 Crew     1748 BP      TCS 200  TH 3000  EM 0
15000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 10-41     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/3     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 109    Max Repair 200 MSP
Tractor Beam     

J10000(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 10000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
InC Fusion Drive C600 (5)    Power 600    Fuel Use 6%    Signature 600    Armour 0    Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 680,000 Litres    Range 2040.0 billion km   (1574 days at full power)

Advanced Geological Sensors (1)   3 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

Spoiler: Sensor Section (click to show/hide)

Explorer - Sensor Section class Gravitational Survey Vessel    5,000 tons     495 Crew     3228.5 BP      TCS 100  TH 0  EM 0
1 km/s     Armour 10-26     Shields 0-0     Sensors 96/96/9/0     Damage Control Rating 10     PPV 10
Maint Life 9.25 Years     MSP 3833    AFR 21%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 81    5YR 1211    Max Repair 960 MSP

Fuel Capacity 255,000 Litres    Range N/A

Single R21/C6 Meson Cannon Turret (2x1)    Range 210,000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 6-6     RM 21    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Fire Control S12 240-24000 (1)    Max Range: 480,000 km   TS: 24000 km/s     98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
InC Fusion Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 12    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR20-R1 (1)     GPS 87     Range 20.7m km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR2523-R120 (1)     GPS 115200     Range 2,523.9m km    Resolution 120
Thermal Sensor TH4-96 (1)     Sensitivity 96     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  96m km
EM Detection Sensor EM4-96 (1)     Sensitivity 96     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  96m km
Advanced Gravitational Sensors (3)   9 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Together they move at a speed of 10,000 kms and have a range of 1870 billion km, although I have to transfer fuel from the sensor section when the engine section runs low. It's more fuel efficient and I save on maintenance compared to my old exploration ship, plus I had space to tack on a third grav sensor and a geo survey sensor in case I want to survey planets without calling in the geo survey fleet. And since the geo sensor is on the main ship it can drop off the sensor section at the jump point to go scan planets at 15,000 km/s then come back and pick it up. And once the maintenance clock gets really high on the sensor section I can build a new one and attach it while the first one overhauls, then swap them out in a few years when the new one is getting old.

Only downside is the ships take 2 officers, which would mean I need 2 survey officers if I want a survey bonus on both the geo and grav survey sensors. I debated putting the geo sensors on the sensor section, but the extra maintenance and loss of the ability to dump it off and move 50% faster while geo surveying made me decide against it.

Hmmm.... can you put mines on drones? Drive-by minefields in the enemy's home systems.

But the big thing is planets. Bust all his planets and who cares about his fleet?

Yea, you can put mines on drones. You just make a buoy with sensors with a second stage missile, then use that as the second stage for a drone. Drone would theoretically fly to your waypoint and deploy the mines. I've never tried it, but it should work. Without a range limit you could shoot them from a planet too, lol. Just put enough fuel to get up to speed, cruise over, and slow down. Fire mine fields at your enemy from the next system over

[BurnedToast]

I think there will be some equivalent to our Jump Drive for inter-system transit. Having to wait years for any transit would sucks.

Yes, on further reading there's going to be a separate FTL system which will be elaborated on later. I was under the impression ships just had to seamlessly speed up to relativistic speeds without any warp drive or anything.

[Sirus]

Well, you can always play with the numbers. Presumably, relativistic weaponry would only come in at the top of the tech tree, and combat would be somewhat different from what we're familiar with.

Why would relativistic weaponry be at the top of the tech tree? that makes no sense, a relativistic kill vehicle would just be.... an inanimate carbon rod (actually probably neutronium since we have that) going really really fast.

And as for relativistic speeds - did you miss the part about removing jump points and FTL being the way to get between systems? Every ship will be capable of a significant portion of c from near the start..... or it's going to be a really boring game.

I was under the impression that we already had relativistic weapons: Railguns and Gauss weapons. Keep in mind that all non-missile weapons strike instantaneously, as long as the target is within range.

Of course, those weapons, even the particle beam, are very short ranged in comparison to missiles. If, however, a particle beam had more than 300,000km range, it would actually be striking faster than the speed of light (can someone confirm the maximum possible range for particle beam tech?).

[Sheb]

Actually, it strikes within a 5-second interval, so it'd need to have a range of over 1,500,000km to break relativity.

It think the max range is over 10,000,000km.

[Sirus]

Actually, it strikes within a 5-second interval, so it'd need to have a range of over 1,500,000km to break relativity.

It think the max range is over 10,000,000km.

Can someone who has database access test this?

Stick an NPR PDC on some asteroid, and have a ship with maximum particle beam tech take a shot from far away. If the shot hits instantly, then we have an FTL weapon.

[Paul]

Beam weapons are limited to light speed for the 5 seconds. I think he rounded it up to 1.5m km. If so, technically its FTL - but not by much.

[PTTG??]

More to the point, why would anyone relativistically annihilate a planet? Why destroy a planet that you actually want to have? Why attack any planet that's not worth having?

[Jacob/Lee]

More to the point, why would anyone relativistically annihilate a planet? Why destroy a planet that you actually want to have? Why attack any planet that's not worth having?

I can imagine someone just blowing some enemy-owned planet they that isn't worth much to them to pieces if they can't uproot the defenders, that's it.

[TheBronzePickle]

Besides, as long as you haven't somehow atomically annihilated the planet, you could still mine the minerals out from the bits and pieces left over. Or tow them all back together and "rebuild" the planet.

[BurnedToast]

The max range on fire control is 1,498,000 km or something like that, it's c x 5 seconds rounded to an even number. Technically some beam weapons (heck even plasma carronades at the highest tech levels) can shoot further then that, but since you can't fire outside fire control range it's impossible ingame.

And as for railguns etc being relativistic weapons, that's a good point - they really should be absolutely devastating when used for bombardment given with high velocity research they are traveling at (or at least close enough to) c. However, It's my understanding that one of the design goals of aurora was to avoid widespread genocide (or at least make it have high costs i.e. fallout from bombardment) and make ground combat the preferred method of taking planets for flavor/gameplay reasons so I guess that's why they are terrible for bombardment like lasers are.

As for why destroy a planet.... realistically you wouldn't - once you controlled space the threat alone should be enough for them to capitulate, and if not a few strategic strikes with very small payloads annihilating a major city or two should do it.

[Sheb]

Actually, they are pretty effective as long as there is no athmosphere. A railgun slug going fast in an atmospher will just melt away.

[BurnedToast]

Actually, they are pretty effective as long as there is no athmosphere. A railgun slug going fast in an atmospher will just melt away.

It dosen't matter if it melts or not, though. The energy still exists, so the molten slug material will hit just as hard and be just as devastating.

Even if it evaporates completely, the energy is dumped into the atmosphere, superheating it, which is arguably worse for the inhabitants then a (relatively) localized strike would be.

[Sirus]

A melted blob of metal (assuming that future-age materials would actually melt) traveling at those speeds would still have a f**kton of power behind it. Hell, a melted blob might actually be more damaging, as it would spread the impact a bit instead of penetrating into the ground. Relativistic Kill Vehicles (RKVs) have the added advantage of lack of radiation (though the impacts would still throw up a lot of dust).

Think of all the proposed solutions to potential asteroid strikes today. Every single one of them involves diverting or deflecting the asteroid, and none involve shattering it with a nuke. All or most of the fragments would still hit the planet with the full force of the full thing.

[Sheb]

Well, it'd take a 500 tons slugs to rise the temperature by 1°C.